


Stevie Rogers: Bucky Barnes (or Steve and Bucky's Excellent Adventures)

by Bookwummy



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Childhood Friends, Growing Up Together, M/M, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-01-21 16:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12462021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookwummy/pseuds/Bookwummy
Summary: Steve and Bucky got into plenty of adventures before they were Captain America and the Winter Soldier.





	1. Prologue: The meeting

It was a hot and humid summers day in the middle of Brooklyn. Most people were out enjoying the good weather. There were families in the parks, people swimming in the stream, and children that were savoring the last of their vacation before school resumed. The air was filled with laughter, shouting, and the usual hustle and bustle of the city.  
If you looked closely at the cheerful scene you might be able to catch a glimpse of a young boy with curly brown hair and shining grey eyes walking all by his lonesome. This young boy went by a couple of different names. The shopkeepers called him Jimmy, His mothers and friends called him Bucky and his youngest sister called him Jam. We know him today as Sergeant James Barnes. This is his story. 

James was bored out of his mind. His mom and sisters had gone out to the local shops and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't find a single one of his usual playmates. He normally would have gone his mother but they were going to the butcher's shop that was run by Mr. Johnson with the crooked yellow teeth. All the neighborhood children knew about Mr. Johnson and they all agreed that there was something shifty about him. James was walking aimlessly around when he stumbled across a densely wooded area. After a while of walking along the tree line he noticed a well-worn, but narrow path running through the trees to the other side.

Looking at the other end of the path James could see water. He guessed that it was the ocean because his family lived rather close to the shoreline and decided to go investigate and see for himself. The path was about 10 yards long and narrowed slightly at the end. As the young boy reached the end he happily discovered that he was right! The path opened up to a small sandy beachy area with large boulders scatted along the shore. On his left he could see an old wooden dock that was covered in barnacles and seaweed. The wood had started to chip and rot in some areas but other than that it looked sturdy enough to hold his weight. James walked on top of it and began to wonder if he and his friends could make a secret hideout here. 

James explored the area and found several more paths of varying sizes. It looked as though most of them lead in the general direction of the shops but he couldn't tell for sure. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was just starting to turn pink as the sun started to set. James decided that he should probably start heading back when he heard a commotion behind him. He spun around just in time to see two small figures run out of the path onto the beach. They were two boys that looked a bit younger than James. They were both on the smaller side and they were both panting and looking as if they had just run a mile. The slightly taller one who had light brown hair looked up and noticed Bucky. He grabbed the smaller redhead and all but dragged him over. 

"There are people chasing us! Will you help us hide?" The taller boy wheezed, struggling to catch his breath. Bucky considered saying no for a second. After all he had never talked to either one of them before. However, his ma told him to never turn down a person in need so he relented. 

"Sure, maybe try going over there." Bucky said gesturing towards one of the largest boulders. The boys looked at him gratefully before ducking behind rock.  
Not a moment later Bucky saw another group of kids crash through the tree line. He counted five of them in all and they looked MAD. He recognized them from school and he knew that they weren't exactly what you would called well-behaved. They were a few years older than him and they ran around the neighborhood tormenting everyone younger than them. Every kid was scared of them and anything could set them off. Look at them funny? You spent the next week getting beat black and blue. Talk to them without a good reason? Have fun scraping your brains off the wall.  
The biggest one called Thomas looked around before he spotted James. "Oi Barnes! You seen a couple of scrawny guys come 'round here just now?" He shouted jogging over to James. 

"Yeah I did! There was two of 'em. They ran over there!" James replied pointing to one of the larger, more noticeable paths that was a few yards away from the one they just ran out of. 

The group dashed off in pursuit and James wondered whether or not it was a good idea to help the pair hide after all. He shuddered at the thought of what would happen to him if Thomas found out James had lied to him. He walked over to the boulder where the two kids were hiding and saw them crouching in the sand. The taller one noticed him and stood up, looking around to make sure that the group had really gone. 

Now that James could see them up close he noticed a couple of new things about them. The red-headed boy had dark brown eyes and a dusting of freckles going all the way from his forehead to the base of his neck. The other boy had light blue eyes and stood kind of awkwardly with his torso tilted slightly to one side. 

"Thanks for what you did." The blue-eyed boy said, helping the other child to his feet," I don't think we would have been able to out-run them." 

"No problem." James replied, standing closer until he was right in front of the other kid, " My name's James. What's yours?" He asked holding out his hand. 

"My ma said that I shouldn't give strange people my name." The red-head replied, eyeing James suspiciously, "she said that not everybody who talks to you is nice. Some of them are really weird." 

"I'm not strange or weird! I just helped you hide from Thomas!" James exclaimed, offended. 

"Yeah you are! You stand around alone on top of old docks. That sounds pretty strange to me." The other kid retorted, crossing his arms indignantly. 

"What do you know? You're just a little kid! How old are you? Five?!" James accused pointing a finger at him. 

"I'm six and a half! I'm really smart to! I even know how to count by sevens!" He replied before storming off the beach and on one of the other paths. 

"Well I'm eight and I know how to count by nines! Nines!" James yelled at the retreating figure before noticing the other blue-eyed boy trying to stifle a laugh, "What's so funny?" 

"Nothing's funny." The boy said smirking, "I should probably get home now though. My ma will be worried if I'm home late." He continued before also dashing off  
"Wait a minute! You didn't even tell me your name." James pointed out. 

"My mom said I shouldn't give strange people my name!" He joked before he disappeared. 

James shook his head before walking back to the floating dock. He noticed that the sky was slowly turning from pink to golden shades of yellow and orange. James decided that he should probably start heading home and leave exploring the other paths for another day. 

When he got home his mom asked him what he did that afternoon. He told her that he met some weird kids down near the beach.


	2. Chapter 1: The Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James finds his sister and a familiar face causing trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh the characters are so ooc. This chapter is also pretty introductory but I promise it gets more interesting soon

About a week after the meeting with the pair of boys James Buchanan Barnes found himself stuck in the middle of what he personally thought was the most BORING thing in the whole world. School. The school year had only started a few days ago and it already felt like months. It was even worse than usual because most of his friends had been but in the other class. His new teacher, a petite kind faced women called Ms. Kelly, was by no means a bad teacher, but they were currently learning math. He hated math. It was true that he could count by nines but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it. He didn't understand why they had to learn the cursed class in the first place. After all who uses their time tables on a daily basis anyways! 

After a while of trying and failing to pay attention to what Ms. Kelly was saying about multiplication and division, James decided that he would much rather calculate the amount of time left until lunch. He looked at the clock and found that there was still 30 minutes left until recess. 

'30 minutes.' James thought, ' there are 3 tens in 30 and each ten has 2 fives. 3 times 2 equals....6! That means I only have to get through 6 more sections of 5 until recess!' James felt very pleased with himself. See he didn't have to listen to the teacher he could already do multiplication and division! 

"James! What's the answer?" Ms. Kelly called out. James snapped his eyes away from the clock and saw the teacher looking down at him. 

"Six!" He blurted out. Some of the other students began to giggle. James saw the teacher raise one of her thin eyebrows. 

"Really! Are you sure? Seven times five equals six?" She questioned. Now all of the kids were laughing. James felt his blood rush to his face 

"Thirty-five. Seven times five equals thirty-five." James replied, looking down and averting his eyes. 

"Very good," Mrs. Kelly said turning to face the entire class, " next time try to pay attention. It might do you some good." James sunk low into his seat before focusing attention back to the black board. How did teachers always manage to do that! James wondered. They always know when you're not paying attention. Maybe they can read minds. 

Ding Ding Ding! The sound of the bell rang throughout the entire school, pulling James out of his thoughts. All the children leaped to their feet and rushed out the door for recess. 

James had barely made it five steps out of the door when he was he was pushed from behind from another boy. He quickly spun around to see one of his friend Jack holding his lunch bag. Jack was slightly taller than him with thin black hair, a long thin face, and large owl-like brown eyes. They had become friends a few months before the end of the last school year. Jack was nice most of the time but he could get pretty rough sometimes. 

"Oi Jack, I thought I told you to stop that! I nearly had a heart attack!" James exclaimed crossing his arms and glaring at Jack 

"Happy to see you too pal." Jack sniggered, " How's your class going so far? Mine sucks"   
The two talked for a while about their new teachers and classmates as they found a table. James swept a couple of fallen leaves off the bench and sat down. 

"I heard that Becca got Ms. Johnson this year" Jack said holding out a piece of the apple that his mom had packed him for lunch, " I feel sorry for her."   
Mrs. Johnson was one of the teachers for the grade ones and everyone who had her hated her. She never treated anyone fair and always picked favorites. When James had her as a teacher she gave him detention for an entire week because he turned around during class to ask for a pencil. Hopefully she wouldn't be that bad this year but James really doubted it. 

"Becca said she hasn't done anything horrible to her yet but it just seems like a matter of time." James mentioned, taking the slice before getting out his own lunch.   
At that moment James heard a small commotion going on by a few trees that were roughly 8 yards away from where they were sitting. 

"What do you reckon that is?" James asked. Looking over. He could see a couple of kids but he couldn't tell what they were doing.   
Jack shrugged before going back to his lunch. "Probably just a couple of kids playing tag or something."   
Jack was probably right. A lot of the kids at the school could be pretty rowdy sometimes so James decided to ignore it. However, after a little while the noises turned to loud shouts. He couldn't pinpoint what they were saying but he could tell that it wasn't good. 

"Maybe I should go over and see what's going on" He said standing up 

"I'm telling you, it's probably just some dumb kids getting a bit too excited over a game. You can go if you want but I staying here." Jack mumbled through a face full of food.   
James started making his way over to the sound. When he got closer he could understand snippets of what was being said and it. 

"I thought I told you to leave us alone!" Came a familiar voice 

"I thought I told you not to be a little snitch!" Came another voice, "Now you gotta pay the price!" 

"Go away! You shouldn't have been taking her things! We wouldn’t have said anything if you hadn't done anything wrong in the first place!" Shouted yet another voice. 

"Got yourself a boyfriend have you Barnes?" Somebody sneered 

Barnes? James sped up before running through the trees. Rebecca was standing with back to him next to a boy facing another pair of kids in her grade, one tall wearing a yellow jacket and one shorter with a pair of mud caked shoes and a worn, red hat. He couldn`t see it but he bet that her face would be red with anger. 

"Excuse me? Just because you talk to someone doesn't mean you like them, but you wouldn’t know that because the only person who ever talks to you is your ma!" She retorted balling her hands up into fists. The boy hat stepped forward, raising his arm. 

“You stupid-” 

"What's going on here!" Bucky shouted, stepping towards his sister. She spun and the child next to her both spun around. He was surprised that the boy was the same one he saw the other day by the beach. The two other kids also noticed him. The one with the hat took a few paces backward, taken aback while lowering his arm. 

“She snitched and got us both in trouble. We have to clean the chalkboards for two whole months 'cause of her!” the boy with the jacket accused pointing a finger at Rebecca. 

“You shouldn’t have been doing it in the first place.” The boy from the beach retorted, glaring at them before turning his head to look at James again, “they were taking her pens and pinching her." 

"No, we weren't!" The boy with the jacket pouted, crossing his arms 

"Yes, you were! It hurt a lot. I didn't like it." Rebecca replied before pointing at the boy from the beach, "He saw them doing it, and helped me so the sides would be even." 

"No! we weren't doing anything. She's lying to you!" One of the other boys exclaimed 

"If the both of you don't leave right now cleaning the chalkboards is gonna be the least of your problems." Bucky said, walking and stopping in front of the two first graders before crossing his arms and glaring down at him. The two kids looked as if they wanted to go on, but no first grader was stupid enough to mess with a third grader. They reluctantly walked away sneering at them. 

"Thanks for helping us out Bucky. How did you know we were over here?" James heard Rebecca say behind him. He turned around and walked back to the two first graders. 

"Everyone could hear the ruckus you lot were making from a mile away." James explained, "By the way, weren't you the kid from the other day by the old wood dock?" James added turning toward the brunet. 

"Wait, you know Steven?" Rebecca questioned, looking confused. 

"I didn't know his name. So, you think Rebecca ain't strange, but I am? I feel offended." James said jokingly. 

"Shut up." Steven groaned. 

"If you two don't have anywhere to be you can eat lunch my buddy Jack and I." James offered. The two agreed and they all went back to the table together. 

"What took you so long?" Jack said, looking up at from his food. 

"Rebecca was arguing with some kids." James explained sitting back down. 

"I'm not surprised seeing as she's your sister. Who's the other kid" Jack asked, nodding toward Steve. 

"That's Steve, he thinks I'm strange." 

"Oh, stop being such a jerk." Steven said 

"I wouldn't be a jerk if you weren't such a little punk Stevie." Bucky joked 

"Don't call me Stevie!" Steve exclaimed, his face going red. Rebecca threw her head back and started laughing at him. 

They spoke a while after that about such and such before the bell rang. After that Rebecca and Steven sat with James and Jack more often.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again if you liked it leave a comment. If you don't leave one anyways! I'm always open to critique.


	3. Chapter 2: Trouble at the dock (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Bucky finally discover that the there is something weird going on with the dock. They go and investigate.

After the first incident in the school yard Steve slowly began to become more and more acquainted with Bucky. After all, Steve did seem like a nice guy. Even though they didn’t hang out much outside of school Bucky quickly found out that Steve had a few interesting quirks about him. For one thing he was always either getting into trouble, accidentally dragging other people into trouble, or trying (and failing) to get himself out of it. It wasn't bizarre to see him show up covered in scratches and bruises or nursing a broken nose. In fact, it was almost weirder to see him perfectly fine, or as fine as a kid like Steve can be. They also quickly realized that Steve had quite a few medical problems that made it almost near impossible for him to ever be considered perfectly healthy. It turned out that Steve had a problem with his back that made him stand awkwardly and lungs that weren't exactly ideal. These and a whole list of other things made it so he couldn't really spend a lot of time playing with other kids. Which is why Bucky was more than a little surprised to open the door one weekend to none other than Steven Rogers dressed in a well-worn jacket.

"Hey Bucky! How are you today? Don't you think it's perfect time of day for a walk in the park, or the dock by the beach?!" Steve exclaimed loudly, while smiling uncomfortably wide with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Steve are you okay? You seem a bit, uh, enthusiastic today." Bucky told him. Steve was acting strange. He was usually so much less bubbly.

"Oh, nothing at all! I'm perfectly fine. I was just saw the wonderful weather and thought it would be so nice to visit the dock with my good pals Bucky and Becca Barnes." Steve replied, somehow managing to look even more obnoxiously cheerful. Bucky turned his head to see that Becca was standing behind him.

"First of all, only Bucky and my ma call me Becca, secondly it looks like it's about to rain soon. Why do you want us to come with you?" Rebecca stated looking at him, her brows furrowed in confusion. She did have a point. It looked fine now, but those grey clouds in the sky were a sure sign that it wouldn't be for long. Steve also never mentioned the dock in conversation, so why was he suddenly so interested?

"What have you seen at the beach and why are you trying so hard to convince us to go look at it with you?" Bucky said narrowing his eyes. He wasn't completely sure why Steven wanted to go but he could tell that the younger boy had to be convincing him to go to the beach for some other reason other than the weather. Steve's face fell. He looked down at his feet and hesitated, thinking over his words, before looking back at Bucky and Rebecca.

"I haven't actually been to the beach yet but I have been noticing some things." Steve explained," It's kind of complicated. You know Mr. Johnson, the butcher, right?" Bucky and Rebecca nodded," Well the other day I was walking by the trees to run a couple of errands for my ma. I looked through the trees and I could see Mr. Johnson standing next to the old dock. I tried to get a closer look to see what he was doing, but he looked over and almost saw me watching him." Mr. Johnson? At the beach? Bucky couldn't possibly imagine what he would be doing there. He didn’t think anyone knew about the place except for him and Steven.

"Are you sure it was him? I mean the trees do block a few things from view. There are also a lot of guys the same size as Mr. Johnson. Maybe it's someone else." Rebecca pointed out, "After all why would Mr. Johnson be at the dock? He's a butcher not a fisherman." Steven shook his head

"There's more. I heard him talking about the dock earlier today. He was saying to the grocer how he 'had the perfect way to get rid of their problem once and for all’. What problem? I don’t know about you guys but something about this sounds fishy to me.” Steve said, looking concerned, “What if they’re up to something dangerous? I mean it’s worth checking ain’t it?” Steve did have a point. What if there really was something going on.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a look. I’ll come but we have to be quick. My ma is gonna start making lunch soon.” Bucky said grabbing his jacket that was next to the door.

“You aren’t really going with him. Are you?” Rebecca asked, as Bucky was walking out the door

“Sure I am. It shouldn’t take too long, we’re only gonna see if there’s anything’s out of the ordinary. If Steve’s telling the truth then it’s probably worth having a look.” Bucky answered.

“Well, I’m not coming! I think that this is all some misunderstanding, but if you two wanna go out and waste your time than be my guest.” Rebecca said, before shutting the door.

Bucky and Steve started making their way to the secret dock, walking as fast as they could. The air was chilly and the trees that dotted their path were almost bare of all leaves. The days were getting colder and fall would be ending soon. Bucky thought of the cold winter months that lay ahead with a deep sense of loathing. The sun always set so early which means that he couldn’t stay outside as late and the ice that covered the ground meant that he was always slipping and falling all over the place.

As the two boys reached the small trail that lead to the secret dock they looked around. There seemed to be nothing out of place and it didn’t look as if there was anyone on the other side. They walked past the forested area and reached the sandy beach. Bucky stopped walking and looked around. Everything would have been fine if it wasn’t for the fact that the old wooden dock was nowhere in sight.

“The dock’s gone!” Steven exclaimed, rushing over to where it had once stood, “It’s all gone!”

Bucky ran over to where Steven was standing. The only thing that had shown that the dock was ever there in the first place were a few barnacle-covered wooden poles that were still standing in the water that had fixed the structure to the ground. He looked closer at the area around. There were still imprints in the sand right against the water which signified where the edge of the dock had rested.

“Look at this!” Steve exclaimed, pointing to the sand next to Bucky.  
Bucky’s eyes followed where his hand was pointing and saw many footstep markings. Some leading towards the water and some leading away far off into the distance. As he bent down to get a closer look, he noticed that the prints were in two different shapes and sizes. One of them was longer than the other and had a thicker heel when compared to the other one. There were also multiple paths, which suggested that whoever made the marks took many trips back and forth. Could they have carried the wood away?

“Huh, that’s odd. You think we should follow them? They look like they go on for quite a while,” Bucky asked Steve.

“That sounds good. I kinda wanna find out where they lead,” Steve replied.

The two boys followed the trail of footprints in silence, listening to the sounds of their shoes crunching in the sand and the seagulls calling from up above. Each of them looking off into the distance to see where they ended. In the distance Bucky could see something small and metal lying in the sand. Could it be a clue? He started running up to it. As he got closer, Bucky noticed that it was a key. He picked it up and showed it to Steve.

“Do you think this belongs to the people who took the dock?” Bucky asked.

“It probably does,” Steven replied, “It looks pretty small though. Looks like it might be a mailbox or a lock box key.”

Bucky looked closer and realized that Steven was probably correct. It did look like some of the mail box keys that most people owned. He pocketed the small key and continued on with his eyes peeled, searching for any other possible clues. However, Bucky had no such luck. The two boys had followed the footsteps for what seemed like just over half-a-mile when they turned onto another dirt path leading into the tree line and away from the beach. This path was much more secluded than the one that they had initially used to get onto the beach, and was choked with weeds and plants. It was also much longer. Bucky followed the path with Steve walking closely behind him.  
The path opened to a back-alley way. The ground was covered in concrete which marked the end of the footsteps. Their search had ended in a dead end.

“Ugh, I thought we were getting somewhere!” Bucky sighed.

“Don’t start complaining yet. Who knows? Maybe they stashed something over here.”

The two boys started combing the alley for clues. Nothing seemed to peak Bucky’s interest. The ground was covered with trash and tree branches, but aside from that nothing looked out of place. He walked to the end of the alleyway and tried to find where they were. To his surprise, they weren’t to far from the road that lead down to the fish market. He had passed this alleyway multiple times before. How had he never noticed it? Just then, he felt something lightly land on his forehead. Bucky looked up at the sky. A raindrop caught him in the eye and he squinted before looking back to where Steve was still searching. It didn’t look as if he noticed.

“Hey! We should start heading back. It’s starting to get wet,” Bucky shouted over to him

“You can go ahead without me. I’ll just stay here for a couple more minutes,” Steven shouted back, without looking up.

Bucky looked back up at the sky. It was only drizzling now, but from the look of the storm clouds overhead it would start pouring soon. It wasn’t a good idea to stay outside.

“Uh, Steve are you sure? The sky doesn’t look to good. Let’s just go together and come back tomorrow,” Bucky said, looking back at the younger boy.

“I said I want to stay here for a while longer! If the rain gets bad it could wash away any clues. Plus, tomorrow anything here could get removed,” Steve snapped, “I’ll only take a few more minutes. If you really don’t want to stay you don’t have to.”

“fine, if you insist on staying I guess I’ll just have to wait for you.” Bucky said, walking over to Steven. 

Steven had started rummaging through a pile that they hadn’t yet searched.

“Aha! I had a feeling that there was something more back here!” Steven cried.

Bucky rushed to look at what Steven had found inside of the pile. There were bundles and bundles of wood tied up together. They had the same old, worn look to them that the wood at the dock had originally had.

“That doesn’t look like all of it,” Bucky pointed out.

“Whoever tore the dock apart probably took the rest away somewhere else,” Steven explained.

“Well no matter where the rest is we still need to start heading back,” Bucky said

Steve looked up at the sky. The rain had increased since it had started and the boy’s hair and shoulders were all starting to get soaked.

“That sounds good,” Steve replied. 

The two boys went back though the forested path and started running along the shoreline where they had come from. When they had emerged from the second path, back onto the road the steady rainfall had turned into a heavy downpour. The freezing drops beat down on them and drenched them with water. Bucky held his jacket closer to his body even though it did very little against the endless onslaught of rain. Steven didn’t look much better either. The poor boy was shivering like a leaf!

“M-meet me at the p-path tomorrow at 2,” Steve said through chattering teeth, before running down the street. 

Bucky started bolting down the street in the other direction towards his house. His feet were pounding on the paved ground and splashing in the puddles that had begun to form. When he got to apartment he pounded on the door. Rebecca opened it and looked him up and down before raising her eyebrows.

“I told you it would rain,” Rebecca said smugly, “Bet you got soaked for nothing.”

“Just let me in already,” Bucky said, exasperatedly, “And wipe that stupid smirk off your face. We found something.”

Rebecca’s eyes widened in shock. Bucky pushed past her and walked into the building.

“Really? What did you find?” Rebecca asked as Bucky took his jacket off and hung it up to dry.

“I can’t tell you. It’s top secret! If you wanted to know you should have come with us,” Bucky teased.

“Come on! What did you see?”

“Oh, you know the usual. There was sand and water. The dock was missing though.” Bucky said.

He walked further into the apartment with Rebecca following him. He could smell his mom cooking something.

“The dock is missing?” Rebecca exclaimed, “How? Why would anyone want a whole dock?”

“I don’t know either. Me and Steven are going back tomorrow to look for a few more clues. If you’re so curious maybe you should see it with your own eyes,” Bucky offered.

Rebecca agreed to go the next day to see the missing dock. Bucky heard their mother calling them to eat. Bucky finished eating before going into his room and thinking over all the clues. It just seemed strange. Why would someone want the wood from the dock? Who was taking it. Was it Mr. Johnson? he decided that there wasn’t enough information yet to figure it out. Maybe he and Steve would find something else tomorrow? He didn’t know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter. I you did leave a comment. If you didn't, leave one anyway! I'm always open to constructive criticism.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked my sad attempt at writing a fic. If you enjoyed it leave a comment. If you didn't, leave a comment anyways.  
> I'm always open to critique!


End file.
